"For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Cor. 14:33).
The Corinthian church had been zealous to exercise their spiritual gifts; they sang, prayed, exhorted, prophesied, and expounded the Old Testament Scriptures, all without the benefit of completed New Testament writings. They often worshiped God through revelations in the form of tongues and prophecy. The problem, however, was that the Corinthians were not using their gifts properly. Each individual was focusing on his own experience, and the result was chaos, something that brought dishonor to God.
To deal with the problem, Paul gave specific instructions. First, he told them that if anyone speaks in a tongue, only two or three were needed. No one was to yell out in tongues in the middle of worship. If someone did speak, they needed an interpreter. If there was no interpretation, the person was required to be silent and commune with God alone. “Let him speak to himself and to God.” This proves that the speaker understood the message even if no one else could.
Prophetic messages were also to be limited. Only two or three could speak at any given service, and these in turn. Once the prophets spoke, those who could discern the spirits were to judge whether what was said was according the Spirit of truth. This proves that it is the responsibility of the church to keep a check on man’s teaching and to let nothing pass that is not according to truth and edifying to the entire church.
When Paul says that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, he simply means that the spiritual gift of prophecy is under the control of the prophets themselves. They do not exercise their gift in a wild frenzy, but in a self-controlled fashion that brings honor to God, who is not the author of confusion but of peace. “Every spirit which is from Him must be capable of control,” Hodge wrote. “He never impels men to act contrary to the principles which He has ordained. If He wills order to prevail in the church, He never impels men to be disorderly … When men pretend to be influenced by the Spirit of God in doing what God forbids, whether in disturbing the peace and order of the church, by insubordination, violence, or abuse, or in any other way, we may be sure that they are either deluded or impostors.”
According to today’s passage, what kinds of things upset the unity of the body and the orderly worship of God? What is the goal of an orderly worship? (vv. 25, 31) If your ultimate goal is to honor God, how does focusing on yourself keep you from this goal? In what ways do you focus on yourself in worship? How can you change this?
